


Back for Good

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Following
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike gets a surprise visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back for Good

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt of "back for good" on my Love Bingo card.

Mike's first indication that there is someone waiting for him outside his apartment comes when he's four doors down and Samson stops dead in his tracks before starting to bark and strain at his leash. Not unduly alarmed, because that's his dog's reaction to someone that he knows and is happy about seeing, Mike continues on, his gait slowing the closer he gets to his door. 

He sees the top of her head first, a shock of dark wavy hair that he'd recognise a mile away, the sight instantly making his fingers itch with the urge to run them through it. His mouth goes dry as his heart does a painful start-stop and only Samson's continued rush to get to her makes him move his feet. 

When he reaches his apartment, Samson leaps on her with enthusiasm, licking her face and throwing himself on the ground at her feet, rolling on to his back and all but begging to have his stomach tickled. Mike frowns at the traitorous display but when he looks away from the dog, looks at Debra, the frown disappears entirely. 

She looks good, really good, in a way she hasn't since probably the first time they met, those few days before the shit hit the fan with the Carroll case and it began to dawn on them all just how big this thing was. She's put back on the weight she lost afterwards; her eyes are clear and bright, free of the dark shadows inside them and underneath them that he'd grown so accustomed to. She's dressed casually, denim skirt, white tank top, white tennis shoes, and she is smiling up at him from her perch on his steps. 

"Hey," she says finally and there's an uncertainty in her tone, as well there should be. 

It's been a long time. 

"Hey." Momentarily at a loss for words, all Mike can do is echo her greeting, stare down at her and wonder what to do, what to say. He knows it's going to come down to him to start things off, after all it always has, but for all the times he's thought about this moment, all the times he's rehearsed it in his head on sleepless nights, he's at a complete loss. 

Which is why it's good she surprises him. "You look good," she begins, shifting over to make room for him and he takes the unspoken invitation, sits down beside her. Samson promptly lies across their feet, effectively trapping them, and Debra reaches down to rub between his ears. If dogs could smile, Mike would swear that that's what he's doing. 

"You look better," he tells her after a moment and her cheeks darken in a way that has nothing to do with the summer sun shining down on them. 

"I am," she says, meeting his eyes for a moment before she shakes her head, looks out across the street. "Well, I'm getting there."

He nods. They're all still getting there, so it's as much as any of them can hope for. He'd just wanted for them to get there together. 

"Five months."

Those are her next words and this time it's his turn to nod, look away from her across the street. "Yep."

There's a long silence and when he looks over at her again, there's a frown on her face as her teeth gnaw at her bottom lip. That's the expression he remembers from before she left and seeing it now in the immediate aftermath of her smile, it hurts all the more. 

"You could have called." His voice is more gentle than the words imply. "I mean, I know why you didn't... but you could have."

The faintest trace of a grin returns to her lip. "That makes one of us," she murmurs and he must look as confused as he feels because she continues, louder, "I don't know why I didn't call... I wanted to. Every day."

That might just be the most open and honest she's even been without him having to pry words out of her. The realisation makes him bold. "Where did you go?"

"Iowa." The word sends his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline because he knows what happened the last time she was in Iowa. "Which went about as well as the last time," she continues, as if she can read his thoughts. "I was kinda surprised without being surprised, you know? So then I went to see Beth for a while, and that was better... Then I went to Havenport."

Mike never knew it was possible for someone's jaw to actually hit the ground but it feels like his is going to. "Why..."

His throat closes because he hasn't been to Havenport since that day they spent scouring the state forest for her grave. Why she would want to go back there is beyond him. She shrugs, gives him a small smile. "I thought it might give me some closure... Turned out it only made the nightmares worse." She sighs and he frowns because he remembers those nightmares all too well, doesn't want to think how they could get any worse. "So I drove... and I kept driving. Looking for something."

Mike tilts his head, knowing better than to ask what it was. "Did you find it?" seems like a safer ask, at least until she looks at him with eyes that are dark and serious. 

"That's the thing," she says slowly.  "I think I had it all along and left it behind."

Oh. 

Well then.

That changes everything.

He's assimilating the words, letting them run through his head, through his heart, because they are the first time she's ever said anything along those lines to him, the first time that she's ever given any indication that whatever they are, whatever they have, means as much to her as to him. Except she doesn't know what he's thinking, can't read his mind and this is the first time they've talked since she left five months ago and she's evidently nervous at how his feelings might have changed. 

"I know I don't have any right to come back and just lay this all on you," she tells him. "And I don't expect to pick things up where we left off..."

"You're back then?" he asks, interrupting her and not caring. "For good?"

When she nods, there's the faintest spark of hope in her eyes. "I have psych evals with the Bureau most of next week," she tells him. "They'll either clear me or they won't." For a woman as committed to her career as Debra Parker, that's a hell of a statement to make so carelessly, with a shrug, and it's one Mike knows she wouldn't have made six months ago. "But I'm here, Mike... I'm tired of running."

She doesn't break eye contact with him and he nods slowly, feels a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "It's good to see you, Deb," he tells her, reaching out and taking her hand in his and her smile is brilliant, luminous. 

"I missed you," she tells him softly, her voice hoarse. "Every day."

Mike clears the sudden lump in his throat, squeezes her fingers. "I missed you too," he says, bringing her fingers to his lips. "And I'm glad you're back."

She smiles, her fingers tightening on his as she leans her head against his shoulder. He stops trying to fight the smile on his lips as he slides an arm around her shoulders, kisses the top of her head. Samson, evidently tired of lying on their feet, leaps up between them and lays his head on Debra's knee, dark eyes staring up at her and Debra's laugh is music to his ears.

"It's good to be home," she tells him and if she hadn't said anything else to him today, those words would be enough.


End file.
